Unreal Engine 4 goes free to download

High profile triple-A favourite development suite Unreal Engine 4 has been made available for free.

Epic Games shifted the engine to a subscription model in March last year, allowing a new wave of developers access to the tools. Prior to this move, the engine was only available to studios able to cough up significant licensing fees.

Not only will the engine be free to download but all future updates will also be free. Where Epic aims to make its money back is through a 5 percent royalty cut, which developers using the engine are required to pay if what they make is more than $3,000 net revenue per product per quarter.

'It's a simple arrangement in which we succeed only when you succeed,' said Epic Games chief executive Tim Sweeney. 'We’ve realized that as we take away barriers, more people are able to fulfill their creative visions and shape the future of the medium we love. That’s why we’re taking away the last barrier to entry, and going free.'

Sweeney notes that since Unreal Engine went to a subscription model, its community has practically exploded with projects of wildly varying quality being created as a result. Some of the best examples will be shown at GDC.

Previous subscribers to the engine will also receive $30 of credit to spend in the Unreal Engine store as a thank you for supporting Epic with its subscription experiment.

Unreal Engine 4 is available to download for free from the Epic site now.